Composer of the Week - Gaetano Donizetti (1797-1848) - Episode 2

Donald Macleod explores Donizetti's life and work, focusing on the bane of the composer's Italian career - censorship. Lucrezia Borgia alarmed the censors with its five on-stage deaths and unflattering depiction of a pope's daughter. Maria Stuarda offended the King of Naples because it represented royalty in an unflattering light, with two queens on stage, one of them calling the other 'vile bastard'. Poliuto, passed as fit for public consumption by the censors, was nonetheless banned by the king because of its religious subject-matter. The effect was to drive Donizetti to abandon Naples for Paris. Lucrezia Borgia - 1833 (excerpt from Act 2 Sc 2) - Maffio muore Gennaro ...... Alfredo Kraus Lucrezia Borgia ...... Montserrat Caballe RCA Italiana Opera Orchestra Jonel Perlea (conductor) RCA GD86642, CD 2 track 17 Maria Stuarda - 1834 (excerpts from Act 2) - Qual loco e questo? - E' sempre la stessa... - Deh! L'accogli...Morta al mondo, e morta al trono - Va, preparati, furente Elisabetta ...... Huguette Tourangeau Leicester ...... Luciano Pavarotti Cecil ...... James Morris Talbot ...... Roger Soyer Maria ...... Joan Sutherland Anna ...... Margreta Elkins Orchestra e coro del Teatro Comunale di Bologna Richard Bonynge (conductor) Decca 425 410-2, CD 1 tracks 18-21 Poliuto - 1838 (Act 2 Sc 2) - Celeste un'aura - Magistrati, guerrieri, popolo - La sacrilega parola - Alla morte lo serbate - Lasciami in pace morire omai Callistene ...... Laszlo Polgar Severo ...... Juan Pons Nearco ...... Paolo Gavanelli Paolina ...... Katia Ricciarelli Poliuto ...... Jose Carreras Felice ...... Harrie Peeters Vienna Singakademie Chorus Vienna Symphony Orchestra Oleg Caetani (conductor) CBS M2K 44821, CD 2 tracks 8-12 Poliuto - 1838 (excerpts from Act 3 Sc 2) - Ah! Fuggi Da Morte - La grazia nell'alma ti scende - Alle fiere chi oltraggia gli Dei - Piu s'indugia? - Il suon dell'arpe angeliche Callistene ...... Nicola Zaccaria Severo ...... Ettore Bastianini Paolina ...... Maria Callas Poliuto ...... Franco Corelli Vienna Singakademie Chorus Orchestra e Coro del Teatro alla Scala, Milan Antonio Votto (conductor) EMI 5 65448 2, CD 2 tracks 17-21.